How to Operate Celebrity IPs? From Fan Identity, Content Systems to Brand Commercialization
Having a cartoon character for a celebrity does not automatically mean a celebrity IP is established. Celebrities naturally possess attention, iconic works, personality traits, and fan dynamics, giving celebrity IPs a superior starting point compared to original character IPs. However, the true challenge begins after the initial announcement: When the celebrity doesn't appear, does the character still have stories to tell? After fan novelty wears off, can it continue to spark discussion? When the character enters retail stores, products, and brand co-branding, does it still rely on the celebrity's personal fame, or has it begun building its own content equity?
We view celebrity IP operations as a long-term asset conversion: gradually transforming celebrity fan equity into the character's independent content equity.
The Hardest Part of Celebrity IP Operations Is Building Character Relationships, Not Getting Attention
The "Bubu" character familiar to Mayday fans is not merely a simplified cartoon rendering of a band member. During the 2025 Starbucks x Mayday collaboration, the carrot plush pendant (priced at 199 RMB) and plush cushion (priced at 159 RMB) reached over 120,000 units sold online, generating more than 21.88 million RMB in total sales. More importantly, this symbol had long penetrated concerts, STAYREAL, pop-up events, and daily consumer touchpoints, proving that an internal fandom code can evolve into an independent character asset.
G-DRAGON and IPX's ZO&FRIENDS followed a different route. Instead of simply re-drawing G-DRAGON himself, it established an immersive world around character traits, relationships, and emotional vibes. Within six months of launch, its official social media accounts exceeded 200,000 followers while expanding across pop-up stores and retail product systems. It subsequently partnered with CASETiFY to launch 43 global products, bringing character experiences into everyday items like phone cases, travel accessories, and tech gear.
Both cases illustrate a core principle: Celebrities can bring people in for the first time, but cannot permanently carry all subsequent IP content. Otherwise, the character remains mere celebrity merchandise artwork rather than a continuously operated IP.
What Fans Truly Recognize Isn't Just "Resemblance to the Star"
When designing a celebrity IP, teams often spend substantial time debating facial features, hairstyles, and outfits. Yet long-term fan identity resides in deeper cultural memories—discography, stage habits, aesthetics, catchphrases, shared milestones, internal jokes, and subtle details understood only by core fans.
Therefore, celebrity IP design shouldn't focus on "what the star looks like," but rather "why fans instantly feel: this is so them." The former creates a generic cartoon illustration; the latter builds a cultural character capable of sustaining content production.
CHOU CHOU's Debut Content: Solving "How the Character Takes Root" First
FansAI produced the official dynamic debut content for "CHOU CHOU and Friends," achieving the initial character animation in 14 days while connecting offline retail stores across Shanghai, Changsha, and Chengdu through a ~45-second video.
As the first celebrity IP project in FansAI's portfolio, our initial focus wasn't simply "how to animate a flat character image." CHOU CHOU shares an organic cultural bond with Jay Chou; fans naturally seek familiarity through Jay Chou's music, aesthetics, magic tricks, stage performances, and personal history. This initial recognition is an invaluable starting point, but relying solely on it prevents the IP from becoming an independent character.
Hence, the debut content avoided simply reproducing a specific song, MV, or existing scene. Instead, it built a distinct visual language belonging to CHOU CHOU using playing cards, magic, stages, time elements, trains, cities, and passes. We believe that for a newly launched celebrity IP, the first content piece shouldn't merely announce the character—it should serve as a "dynamic user manual": letting fans discover where the character goes, what it likes, what its world looks like, and what possibilities lie ahead.
Long-term Celebrity IP Operations Require Three Transformations
First, from celebrity recognition to character identity. The celebrity provides initial cultural codes so fans pay attention; however, the character must gradually cultivate its own personality, preferences, relationships, and growth trajectory. Otherwise, all content reverts to "does this look like the star?"
Second, from character identity to content relationship. Fans move beyond knowing who the character is to following where it went, whom it met, what it did, and what might happen next. For CHOU CHOU, we prioritize "growth capability": a character still taking shape can constantly explore new cities, unlock new chapters, and make new friends, allowing fans to witness its enrichment.
Third, from content relationship to commercial value. Only after a character establishes its own narrative and connections can products, stores, co-branding, and events move beyond depleting celebrity fame to becoming sustainable commercial assets for the IP itself.
Content Frameworks Matter More Than One-off Viral Hits
When a celebrity IP enters long-term operations, the main challenge is rarely a lack of content, but rather starting from scratch every single time. Re-ideating for every holiday, new city, or brand collaboration creates temporary buzz without leaving lasting content equity.
A sustainable IP needs dedicated "content interfaces." CHOU CHOU now possesses built-in entry points across cities, retail stores, FRIENDS, concerts, merchandise, and key calendar events. The debut content connected Shanghai, Changsha, and Chengdu; subsequent city expansions shouldn't merely swap landmark backdrops, but let each city add new experiences and connections to the character.
The same applies to the FRIENDS system. Secondary characters shouldn't cover up a weak main character, but expand world-building, relationships, content, and co-branding once the main character is firmly established. Only as these mechanics accumulate do store locations, merchandise, cities, and campaigns shift from isolated marketing moves into a unified IP content system.
The Key to Fan Operations: Leaving Room for Audience Participation
A major distinction between celebrity IPs and standard corporate IPs is the presence of an established community. Brands don't need to build an audience from scratch, but must respect existing fandom culture. Mature operations shouldn't just enforce "official lore"—they must leave deliberate open spaces for fans to give nicknames, discover easter eggs, interpret details, debate future destinations, and project their own cities and lives into the character.
This is why "imperfection" can be a valuable asset for a celebrity IP. If a character is rigidly defined on day one, it becomes difficult for fans to truly grow alongside it. For CHOU CHOU, our goal is to empower fans to not just consume a Jay Chou-related character, but gradually watch it become its own persona.
Where AI Truly Fits: Empowering Continuous IP Asset Growth
When a celebrity IP begins producing high-frequency content across cities, holidays, and channels, the true value of AI emerges. Diverse retail locations, seasonal events, co-brands, and platforms demand fresh content while requiring strict character consistency—the exact challenge an AI content pipeline addresses.
In the CHOU CHOU project, our priority was preserving character consistency after initial animation. From turnarounds, color palettes, silhouettes, and motion dynamics to uniform visual appearance across diverse environments and camera angles, we established a reusable dynamic asset library. In the debut piece, we employed a multi-model collaborative workflow including GPT 2.5, GPT 2.0, and Seedance 2.5, paired with fine-grained character correction, color system control, turnaround assets, and manual retouching to guarantee visual consistency under varying conditions.
Yet technology itself is not the end goal. What truly matters is that once character assets are established, future city launches, seasonal events, and co-brandings won't require re-creating the character from scratch. AI transforms celebrity IP operations not by cheaply generating more videos, but by delivering scalable content infrastructure for continuous character expansion.
Commercialization Is an Extension of Character Relationships, Not the Final Step
Discussions on celebrity IP commercialization often default to merchandise, plushies, and co-branded products. However, mature commercialization continually expands the real-world scenarios where fans interact with the character. IPX's strategy with ZO&FRIENDS exemplifies this: introducing the character into pop-ups, tech accessories, travel goods, and global retail spaces aims to broaden everyday "IP experiences" rather than merely inflate SKU counts.
From this perspective, offline stores aren't just merchandise shops—they serve as real-world gateways to the IP's universe; city-exclusive items aren't just repackaged souvenirs—they record new narrative chapters; brand co-collaborations aren't logo mashups—they integrate the character into distinct lifestyles.
Thus, sustainable celebrity IP commercialization follows a clear arc: content introduces the character, relationships foster affection, touchpoints integrate it into daily life, and merchandise/co-branding capture consumer demand.
Conclusion: The Ultimate Sign of a Mature Celebrity IP Is Standing Alone Without the Star
Celebrity IPs enjoy an enviable head start, but face a unique hurdle unknown to original IPs: proving one day that they are more than a celebrity's shadow.
Whether Mayday's "Bubu" integrating into fans' everyday lives, ZO&FRIENDS expanding its character world and daily lifestyle products, or CHOUCHOU capturing celebrity momentum for character-driven growth—they all address the same goal: transforming personal influence into lasting character relationships.
CHOU CHOU remains in its early phase of this journey. The debut animated content, three retail stores, city stories, the FRIENDS system, and upcoming chapters represent just the beginning. The real thrill lies not in how many AI-generated videos we can produce, but in reaching the day when fans see new stories and react not with "this feels like Jay Chou," but with "where is CHOU CHOU headed next?"
The true milestone of a mature celebrity IP isn't how frequently the celebrity appears, but whether fans remain engaged when the celebrity doesn't appear at all.